Ultra Violet Black
by Old Fiat
Summary: Nanjiro is dead and Ryoma’s mother is pregnant. Emotions are on high for everyone and things are starting to crumble.
1. Chapter 1 Red and White Lilies

**Ultra Violet Black**

Old Fiat

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis. Why would I? I mean… seriously…

Summary: Nanjiro is dead, his wife is pregnant and emotions are on high for everyone.

Notes: OFNFR made this up for me to write. They were like, "I'll give you a sentence to write a fanfic from." And then wrote:

_Who will support us now that nanjiro is gone?_

And I was like, "Okay, I'll write it." So, here I go! (Be warned: It might be kinda ooc.)

Also I will probably update once a day to once a week. Thanks!

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**Chapter 1- Red and White Lilies**

"…A big brother," said Ryoma, looking at his mother's stomach. "When did you get pregnant?"

"The doctor says about a month," she smiled. "Isn't it wonderful Ryoma?"

"I guess…" said Ryoma, looking at his father. "Good show dad."

"Isn't though?" Ryoma had never seen his father this happy. It wasn't perv-happy; it was something Ryoma had never seen in him before. "Well, come on Ryoma; let's let Nanako take care of your mom."

They began a match; Ryoma was just starting to enjoy himself when his Grandma called them in for dinner. "Aw, mom…" said Nanjiro, pouting comically. "It was starting to get fun…"

"Now," she said and went back in.

"Come on Ryoma," Nanjiro tossed his racket on the porch and went in. Ryoma followed, he didn't want to miss dinner… too hungry…

Afterward Nanjiro got up, stretched and announced that he was going to go shopping for new maternity clothes for Ryoma's mom.

"I'll be back in a bit. See you!" he ran out of the room.

"Ryoma, follow him," said his mom (AN: I'm just gonna make her name Michiko) waving him off. "Make sure he doesn't buy anything unfashionable."

"'kay," he ran after his dad.

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Nanjiro walked back from the store, Ryoma hot on his tail. "Maybe you should buy mom some flowers."

"You're right!" said Nanjiro, snapping his fingers. "Hold these." He handed a bunch of bags to Ryoma. "Her favorites are white lilies right?"

"Yeah," said Ryoma, struggling under the bags. "Go quickly!"

He ran quickly across the street to the florists and came out a few minutes later, holding a dozen white lilies. He ran across the street with out looking and-

"Dad!" screamed Ryoma, dropping the bags and running over as a large truck came towards Nanjiro.

He turned and the white lilies flew out of his hands as the truck smashed into him. They rolled around him, still wrapped in the clear plastic. They slowly gained small droplets of blood and oil on the petals.

It hadn't been very busy in the shops in that area that day and the only other people outside were a few kids- the oldest was nine- and they all ran over to see what had happened. Ryoma came over too, very slowly.

The truck driver ran over as well. He was the one who called the ambulance. But it was too late, Ryoma could tell as he looked at his father, laying there in the road looking appalling. It was too horrifying to describe. He just stood there, he expected to start crying but no tears came. He just looked.

The kids started to cry and the truck driver tried to calm them down as the ambulance hurtled to them. He looked at Ryoma.

"I'm _so sorry_; do you know who that was?"

Ryoma picked up the once stark white lilies. "My father." He looked at the flowers. It was all his fault- if he hadn't said anything about the flowers- "Mada mada dane…"


	2. Chapter 2 Cover Up Comes Off with Water

**Ultra Violet Black**

Old Fiat

**Chapter 2- Cover-Up Comes Off With Water**

The truck driver stared at him, "What?"

Ryoma ran off. He still was holding the flowers and running faster than he ever had before. He finally found himself outside the tennis courts at Seishun. "Tennis…" he hooked his fingers around the holes in the fence, and then looked at the flowers. Then he started staring at the tennis courts. He wished he'd brought a racket. If he had he could get rid of this weird feeling… "It's not like I care..."

"Yo Echizen!"

Ryoma turned and saw Momo coming towards him. He had been working out- Ryoma could tell because his hair was starting to droop and curl.

He didn't want to talk to Momo right now. He ran off.

"Echizen!" Momo ran after, he then saw the lilies. "Who are the flowers for? Ryuzaki-chan?"

Ryoma tripped and fell on to the grass. It was now that the tears came, he held them back though. "They aren't for anyone, Momo-sempai. I'm pretty tired, I'm gonna go home okay?" He could barely believe he could talk.

Momo cocked his head to one side. "'ight Echizen. Hey, is there something wrong?" He saw that Ryoma's eyes had gone very wide and wet-ish. "Hey, there's stuff on your flowers!" He made to grab them.

"No!" Ryoma pulled away the flowers and ran off again.

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When he finally came home later that night the first thing he saw was his mother crying, Nanako crying also and trying to comfort her and his Grandma sobbing into her tea. The police were there as well as a few of the medics and several business men in charge of Nanjiro's estate. He looked at the flowers, and then at his shoes which he then saw had blood on them.

"Ryoma," sobbed his mother, holding out her arms, welcoming him to a hug. "Come here." She pulled him on to her lap and squeezed him. "It's okay to cry sweetie. I know you loved your father very much…"

He cut her off. "No, I never really liked that guy."

Everyone looked at him.

"Ryoma, I hope you don't mean that…"

He looked at the flowers again.

"Mom, these are yours," he handed her the bloodied lilies. "Dad was trying to by them for you. I suggested it. It's my fault." He got off her lap and went to his room.

Ryoma sat on his bed. _I'm not going to cry,_ he thought, his fists clenched on his lap. _Crying's for wussies and babies. I'm now the man of the house… don't cry. Guys aren't aloud to cry above the age of ten according to Momo-sempai unless they're girly-boys. Don't cry…_

Nanako came in and put her arm around him. "Hey Ryoma." He saw her tear stains on her cheeks. "Things are going to be harder now, you understand that right? It's fine if you cry, no one will think any the worse of you."

"Momo-sempai says crying's for girls. I'm not going to," he looked at his dresser; the photos from when he was younger with his dad, swimming, bicycling… playing tennis.

"When you need some one to talk to I'll be there," she got up and left, understanding he needed time alone.

"Oh yeah," she paused in the doorway. "Mom says you can stay home from school tomorrow, if you want to."

He looked at her. "No, I'm going tomorrow."

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Momo knocked on the sliding door. "Hey Mrs. Echizen! I'm here to give Ryoma a ride." He smiled it faded as he looked at her face.

"Hey, did something happen? Did I do something wrong? I can go if you want me to," he looked concerned. "What happened?"

"Nanjiro died," she said, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I'll go get Ryoma; he says he wants to go to school today."

She walked off. Momo stood on the porch, wondering if he said something wrong. Ryoma's Grandma passed- she glanced at Momo and burst into tears. Ryoma came down, he looked as though he hadn't slept the night before.

"Yo Momo-sempai," he walked towards the bicycle.

Momo came after him. He had planned to ask Ryoma to quiz him on English before the test, but it didn't seem to be the right time. "Hey, Echizen… About your dad… your mom told me. I'm really sorry."

"It's nothing," said Ryoma, Momo stared. "Come on, let's get to school. You have an English test today right? I'll quiz you on the way."

Momo wondered how he knew about the English test, and then he remembered he had told him yesterday. He got on the bike. "I really am sorry."

"I told you it's nothing."

Momo thought about the way Echizen's face had looked yesterday, when he had those flowers in his hand and the blood on his shoes. He looked at him right now and just saw a little boy who wasn't going to cry.

"Faster you fat lump!" said Ryoma, giving a shallow laugh.

"Oy! You little-" said Momo, and then stopped. Let Echizen have his fun, it wasn't like he would be able to keep this facade up forever.

Momo came from a family of actors, there was one lesson he had learned very young-

Cover-up will come off with water.

He knew it was true. He had always thought that Tezuka-buchou was the most closed, masked person in the world, but then once he saw him on the his cell phone laughing so hard he was crying.

But with Echizen there wouldn't be laughter.

Only crying.

He was a kid after all.

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"Hoi! Ochibi! Momo-chan!" said Eiji, bouncing over to them. He saw Momo shake his head- A signal that meant _'Don't, I'll explain later.'_

"'Morning Eiji-sempai," Ryoma got down from the bike. His eyes looked blank, not in their usual… weird way. It was like the fog had rolled in inside his head.

"'Morning…" said Eiji. Once Ryoma walked off he turned to Momo. "What's wrong with Seigaku's little baby boy?"

Momo told him all he knew- which was basically that Nanjiro was dead and Ryoma was totally going weird about it. He saw Eiji's eyebrows knit.

"Poor Echizen… Should we tell Tezu-kun and Coach Ryuzaki?"

"No, I just told you because you were being annoying," he grinned. "Ha…"

They both looked at the small boy heading towards the club house.

_He'll learn,_ thought Momo. _If I learned he will. Cover-up will always come off with water._

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It was evening practice. Ryoma pulled on his starter jacket for the second time that day. It was strange, everything was different but at the same time nothing had changed. He looked at Tezuka's thin wrist as he closed his locker. It was thin, despite his strength. He would probably always be like that, no matter what happened. He saw Eiji look at him nervously but it didn't register in his mind. Nothing really did- it was all a haze…

"Echizen?" said Oishi, holding his racket under his arm. "It's time for practice. Echi- Echizen?"

Ryoma was crying, silently- just standing- and crying. "It's not like I liked that guy… It's not like I care… I-"

He suddenly found that Oishi had his face directly level with his. "Echizen, you can stay in here until you feel better. I'll go tell Tezuka." He felt it didn't need explaining to understand what was going on. After all… he had felt the same thing.

"No, I want to go to practice," he wiped off his face.

Oishi looked at him worriedly. "Are you sure Echizen-kun? If you don't want to it's fine, you could-"

Ryoma walked out of the locker rooms.

"Echizen…" Oishi rubbed the creases in his forehead. God, only fifteen and he had worry wrinkles.

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	3. Chap 3 News, Lies and Fuji Knows All

**Ultra violet Black**

Old Fiat

**Chapter 3- News Articles Lies and Fuji Knows All**

By the next day all the news papers had found out about what happened to Nanjiro "Samurai" Echizen. Many reported it as a joke. They said things like; _we guess his reflexes (let alone eyesight) aren't what it used to be…_ These articles made Ryoma fume. How dare they make fun of the dead?

He rode into Seishun the next day on Momo's bike to the stares of the whole tennis club, not to mention the whole school. He was greeted by a Kaido Kaoru handing him a package. "I'm very sorry about your father." He bowed.

"Are you sure that's not a token of your affections?" asked Momo jokingly as he locked his bike.

"Thank you Kaido-sempai," Ryoma put the package into his bag. He had to face it from everyone the whole day.

"Sorry 'bout your dad mate."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"I hope you'll be okay Ryoma-sama!"

"Nya! Poor Ochibi!"

"I really am sorry."

He also could hear people speak about him behind his back right after offering words of pity.

He didn't get either of these from one person; Tezuka Kunimitsu-bochou. When Oishi said his, "I really am sorry." He turned to Tezuka. "Aren't you Kunimitsu?"

Tezuka turned towards him. His gaze flickered to Echizen for a moment. "Sorry about what? I did nothing."

Oishi looked incredulous. "About his _father_."

"Ah, yes," he turned and headed over to Arai who had just come in late.

Oishi turned back to Ryoma. "Totally sorry about Tezuka. I don't know why he's acting like such an _idiot_." He gave his head a quick shake. "Anyway. I understand if you want to skip morning practice."

"I'm going to practice."

"Echizen, when something like this happens – it feels better to take time off of even the things you enjoy the most. Like Tennis."

"I'm going to practice."

"Alright, you go get changed. I'll go talk to Tezuka."

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It was after school now. The sky was pink and the clouds were orange.

"Kunimitsu!" said Oishi. He grabbed on to his left shoulder just to make him pay attention.

"Ah—" Tezuka spun around. "What is it Oishi?" His voice wasn't as hard as it usually was. It fact it seemed foggy.

"What is your problem Kunimitsu? Echizen-kun is in mourning for his late father and what do you do? You stand there and refuse to offer your condolences! Echizen-kun is having it hard enough without you being stupid, you arrogant, rude, angry cow!"

"I don't let my guard down like Echizen-kun. People die every day Oishi."

"Yes but other people _know_ those people!"

"I don't alloy my emotions to cloud my better judgment Oishi. I can't help it that your mum snuffed it. Sorry mate, that's how I am."

Oishi opened his mouth to saw something.

"And don't say what you normally do. She didn't _just go_ to Africa. She went to Africa last year and got herself shot in the head! Actually say something intelligent, _for once_. If you can say something without deluding yourself."

Oishi felt himself choke on the words he was hearing.

"There's nothing wrong with _me_ there's something wrong with _you_. I have no need to apologize; I had nothing to do with it. I'm just trying to make this team good and Echizen-kun crying and mourning will not make it stronger!"

"Kunimitsu— I—" He felt himself throwing up words. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Tezuka walked off.

"Kunimitsu!" Oishi ran after him. "I'm sorry for calling you a cow!"

"Go _away_ Oishi!"

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Momo peddled on the bike as hard as he could. Unfortunately all of the packages from Kaido added up and it was harder to go uphill now. "What's in those anyway?"

"Various pastries. A few are from some other people, like Eiji-sempai."

"Oh, uh, here's your house," he tugged his brakes. Ryoma just stood there. "Aren't you going in?"

"Um, actually… I don't really want to… Could I go to your house?" Ryoma didn't want to go in because everything was so weird and unsure now at his house. His mother was throwing up in the mornings and having weird mood swings. He didn't want to deal with his Grandma and Nanako. Karupin was the only living thing in the house that wasn't missing Nanjiro. Ryoma supposed it was because he had stepped on Karupin so much. "It's just kinda weird at my house right now…"

Momo couldn't help but bark out a laugh at this. "And you want to _escape_ weirdness by going to _my_ house? Are you insane?

"At my house my Grandma will go on a murderous rampage when she finds out I didn't addition for the school play, my 'mum' will both us the whole time about… I dunno, random crap and my little brother has a fouler mouth than me. My dad won't be there since he's shooting a movie," he saw Ryoma twitch slightly. "And my little sister will scream until we play with her and the nanny. _My_ house is filled with spoiled brats. You want to spend the evening at a place like that?"

"Over night preferably," Ryoma shrugged. "It doesn't seem all that weird to me."

"Yeah sure, just go tell your mom."

Ryoma returned a few minutes later with his tennis bag looking slightly fuller. "Come on Momo-sempai!"

Momo noticed how much happier he seemed on the way to his house. He supposed it was because he wasn't going back into that house filled with sad people. It kind of made sense, in a weird way.

Momo came towards the gated community he and his family lived in. Unfortunately a few other families lived there, like the Atobes. He went though the gate after talking to the guard for a moment and they finally got to the Momoshiro house. More like the Momoshiro Head Quarters.

They pulled up to the gate and went in.

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_How did this happen?_

Kunimitsu asked himself this question so many times. When ever something bad happened to the team his first reaction was to blame himself. Now it wasn't just his team. Bad things were seeping into his private life. Fighting with Oishi earlier…

The phone rang next to his bed. He pulled it off the cradle since his parents were out.

"The Tezuka residence. Who am I speaking to?"

_"Hey Kunimitsu? It's Oishi. I— I wanted to apologize about earlier."_

**Click**

Oishi looked at the phone. _Maybe I should call Fuji; he's Kunimitsu friends too after all…_

_"'Allo, 'allo?"_

"Hey, this is Shuichiro Oishi. Is that Yuta?"

_"Yeah, you want me to get Shusuke right?"_

"Uh— yeah. Thank you."

_"Yeah, just a sec,"_ Oishi heard Yuta shout across the house. _"Oy! Shusuke! One of your Seishun friends is on the phone!... No! It's not Eiji! It's… eh… Oshitari? Um… Oishi! It's Oishi!... Yeah!... Pick up the phone in our room then!"_

_"Hello?"_

"Hey Fuji. This is Oishi."

_"Hey Oi-Oi. Why'd you call?"_

"It's about Tezuka. Do you know what's up with him? I think something is wrong but he won't tell me. Do you know?"

_"No, why do you think I would?"_

"Well… Haven't you been Tezuka's friend forever? I mean—"

_"That Fuji knows all? No, I dunno what's up with Kuni. He is acting a bit strange now I think about it."_

"If you find out what's wrong, will you tell me?"

_"Sure. I gotta run. I want to have a match with Yuta before he goes back to Saint Rudolph! Bye bye!"_

**Click**

Oishi hung up too and stared out the window. Why was everything going so wrong? He wanted to call Kunmitsu but knew the second time wouldn't work either.

"Damn it," he pressed his forehead against the window. "Why am I so stupid? Screaming at my friend like that isn't right." He watched as it started to rain. "I need to know what's going on inside my friends' heads so I don't say the wrong thing at the wrong time." He sometimes wondered if Kunimitsu actually thought of him as a friend. "Damn… Damn- Damn- Damn!" He began pounding his head against the glass until he saw someone walking in the rain outside his house.

He ran downstairs, opened the door and looked outside. "Kunimitsu!" He ran over to him. "Come in!"

"I'd rather not Oishi," he had an umbrella with him, it looked rather expensive. "Could you give this to Coach Ryuzaki. I went over to their house but they weren't home."

"Sure," Oishi smiled as best he could while rain pounded down on them. "I'm really sorry about before. You know— calling you an arrogant, angry cow and stuff."

"It's nothing," Kunimitsu gave a vague sort of smile. "Just give that to Coach Ryuzaki."

"I will."

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**Hello. I know I haven't done authors notes on the other chapter but I had to say something.**

**Okay, yesterday I watched ep. 129-131 (while cracking up with OFnFR) and found out Ryoma's mom's name is Rinko. So… That's what it is now. **

**Loves!**

**Review!**

**-Old Fiat s. Italy**


	4. Chapter 4 Happiness Eclipsed

**Ultra Violet Black**

Old Fiat

**Chapter 4- Happiness Eclipsed**

Coach Ryuzaki read the letter with a worried expression on her face. This was a very strange affair. "Oishi."

Oishi had been standing there while she read. "Yes Ryuzaki-sensei?"

"I'd like you to be captain for today. Stay in here, I'll be right back."

She set down the letter and left her office.

He did it without thinking— Oishi picked up the letter and read Kunimitsu's neat handwriting;

_**Coach Ryuzaki-**_

_**I'm afraid that I will not be at practice tomorrow for I am attending a funeral. I will return to practice tomorrow. I apologize for unconvincing you. Please make Sadaharu and Oishi give them the usual drills.**_

_**I apologize once again.**_

_**-Tezuka Kunimitsu**_

Oishi set down the letter. A funeral? Whose? This gave him a new piece of puzzle to fit, but it was like trying to fit a puzzle piece your little sister had drooled on. Nearly impossible.

If only Kunimitsu wasn't such a closed book. If only he could read minds.

Coach Ryuzaki returned. "Come on Oishi, I just had to grab some practice menus Sadaharu wanted to look at."

"And alter?" asked Oishi, giving her a half smile.

"And alter," she shrugged. "Let's go."

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Momo and Ryoma yawned as they walked into the club house. They had stayed up almost all of the previous night playing video games and watching _X-Files_ reruns on Sci-

Fi. It had been a marathon you know!

Despite his puffy eyes, Ryoma looked much better than he had the day before. He walked in his usual way and his eyes didn't look so blank.

The night before he had felt a twang of guilt when Momo took out his copy of the video game _Tennis Master IV_; Nanjiro had gotten him the same game for his birthday the previous year. He saw Momo look at him for a second when he pulled it out. He knew he could tell what Ryoma was thinking.

"It's alright to smile you know," he said half-jokingly as he pointed to the bruise on left cheek from his Grandmother's shoes. "It's alright to laugh too."

Even though he was just talking about the bruise it made Ryoma feel less guilty.

Eiji bounced up to them as the walked up to the club house. "Oh ho ho! Tezuka buchou is gonna be so mad! I bet you'll get ten laps for being late!"

"No way," said Momo, looking at his watch. "We get a lap for every minute we're late, we'll only get five."

"Yeah," Eiji wrapped his arm around Ryoma and tugged him closer. "I s'pose you guys are right.

"Come to think of it— Where is Kuni-san? He didn't turn up with Fuji-chan like he usually does."

Taka jogged over. "Eiji, why aren't you warming up with me?"

"Oh yeah!" Eiji ran off. "SORRY GUYS!"

Shuichiro came out of the club house. His eyebrows were knitted (but when aren't they?) and he looked kind of sick. Not like ill-sick, like worried-sick. "Hey guys, go get dressed so you can warm up. Hey Fuji! You want to warm up with me?"

"Sure!" said Fuji coming over. He whispered something in Oishi's ear.

"_I found out what's been going on._"

"_What?_" whispered back Shuichiro. "_I found out he's at a funeral, but that's all._"

"_Not just any funeral it's his mother, younger brother and baby sister's._"

"_What?_"

"_His little brother contracted leukemia last year and died three days ago. His mother died in child birth four days ago and the baby she gave birth to got sick and perished two days ago._"

"_Oh my God…_ _And I was so rude…_" Oishi felt his hands begin to shake. "_How did you find out?_"

"_His dad and my dad are super close friends_."

Practice continued— almost— as usual.

_(A note from OFnFR I got while writing this: Omg omg omg anna! Not leukemia! Make it be like his cousin who he was really close to or something, that's too much sadness at once… please?)_

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_------One Week Later------_

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Ryoma walked into his house. They were all starting to get back into routine. Nanjiro's funeral had been five days previous. He popped off his shoes and headed into the living room.

"Hey Mom…" he heard his voice trail off.

His mother was lying on the couch her hair rumpled. Her breasts looked slightly bigger because she was pregnant and there was a hand on one of them. A hand belonging to the same male body that had their lips pressed against his mother's.

He stood there. Feeling like the mountain he had almost gotten to the top of had grown a million miles higher. His breath caught every time his inhaled or exhaled. He felt like throwing up and crying. He— he didn't know want he felt as he stood there watching his mother kiss this man all over.

Finally he screamed the thought that had been running though his brain the moment he walked in on the scene.

"**WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU _DOING_?**"

His mother pulled away. "Ryoma—" she started, but he was already out the door.

_Everything was getting better,_ he thought as he ran. He wasn't wearing shoes and the concrete sidewalks felt funny under his feet._ Why did that have to happen? Mom's pregnant. She shouldn't be doing stuff like that. Not to mention dad—_ He cut off his own thoughts.

He didn't even know where he was running. He eventually stopped, looked around and realized he'd only been to this spot once or twice. Tezuka and Fuji both lived on this block. He sighed and sat down the curb. A pair of tennis shoes approached him.

"Echizen-kun."

He looked up and saw Tezuka Kunimitsu standing in front of him. His glasses slightly reflected the pink-orange sky. He was holding several bags of groceries.

"Tezuka-bochou."

"Why are you running around with out shoes?"

Ryoma felt a strong desire to just burry his head in his knees but he stared up at Tezuka.

Kunimitsu still felt guilty about yelling at Oishi. He had had just felt at that time his pain was much greater. Half of his family dying. It was like he had an infernal piece of luck— _all the time_. Especially Kyusuke, his little brother, bothered him. He had wanted to play tennis at Seishun when he was older but he had been taken away at ten.

He looked at Ryoma. Oishi still wasn't talking to him in the same way as before, only now it wasn't really the stiffness that had been in between them before. It seemed more like…

Like pity.

"I'm sorry about your father."

_What is this feeling?_

"Thank you."

_Why do I want to cry?_

"Echizen— the reason I didn't say it to you before was—"

_What are you doing? _

"—because—"

_Shut up! Shut your huge mouth before you do something stupid!_

"—I felt—"

He just stopped talking. He finally obeyed his mind.

"You felt what?" asked Ryoma.

"I must be going. I have to prepare dinner for my Oto-sama and Grandfather," he turned on his heel and headed towards a larger white western-style house with a black tile roof. Ryoma looked back down at his knees and found tears dribbling down his face.

----------

"Oto-sama?" Kunimitsu opened the door. "Grandfather?" He slipped off his shoes and set down the groceries in the kitchen. "Oto-sama?"

He wondered where they were. "GRANDFATHER!"

Still no one came.

"OTO-SAMA!"

No one.

Kunimitsu walked up the steps. Perhaps they were upstairs.

He pushed open the door to his father's room. "Ot-Oto-sama?"

His father was lying on his bed and had surrounded himself with what looked like all the photos he had of his mother and all the photos he had of Kyusuke. There were also a few books there. He knew his mother had kept journals. He was always seeing her paste things into them. But he never knew there were this many.

His father was lying in the center of the bed with all these things around him. He looked like he hadn't slept in days; Kunimitsu didn't think anyone in this house had anyway. He walked over to the bad, sat down on the corner and picked up one of the photos of Kyusuke and his father.

"Oto-sama," Kunmitsu set it back down. "You have to get up; you've been in here for days." He looked at his father's legs. His left leg stopped right below the knee because he had gotten cancer in it and had to get the cancerous area amputated. His father had a prosthetic but he had taken it off to lie down.

"Kunimitsu," he turned towards him. "She's not coming back ever— that's my fault. I murdered her with that baby. I failed with Kyusuke. And the baby…"

Kunmitsu got up. "I'm going to start dinner."

He ran into his Grandfather on the stairs. "Hello Grandfather. I've been speaking to Oto-sama."

His Grandfather sighed. He wasn't the father of Kunimitsu mother but he was sad because he missed her and because what this was doing to his son and his grandson. He was also sad because of Kyusuke and the baby… The only little girl. "I'm very worried about Kuniharu. I really wish all this hadn't happened…"

Kunimitsu went back downstairs and began to make dinner for his family.

_Don't cry._

_If you cry you'll be letting your guard down._

_What you doing? Continue chopping those vegetables!_

**I want to cry.**

**I want to just scream at everyone.**

**I wish all this had never happened. I wish that I could rewrite the last week and a half.**

_Don't think such stupid thoughts. You're exactly where you wanted to be in life. _

_Emotionless._

_Do you think anyone would care if you died?_

**I won't die.**

**It's not fair that Echizen is aloud to cry, but I'm too… too…**

**Too old.**

Kunimitsu stared at the zucchini. He knew many people said he was very mature, some people thought he was older than he was, but he always would have to let the insult slide off his back. He wasn't aloud to show emotion, there was a part of his mind that wouldn't let him.

A light rain began to fall, but it fell only on the cutting board. They fell from Tezuka's eyes.

He was crying.

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	5. Chapter 5 Ultra Violet

**Ultra Violet Black**

Old Fiat

**Chapter 5- Ultra Violet**

Ryoma was still sitting on the curb. He finally got up. He wanted to go home, he really did. But he didn't want to see that scene again. He looked up at the star strewn sky. The pinpricks of Orion and he was pretty sure he saw a planet before his stomach rumbled.

Suddenly the stars began to be covered up by clouds. Then those clouds began to send down droplets of water to drench him. He ran home, by the time he got there he was sneezing, his socks were _beyond_ ruined and he would've gotten in he bath but he had enough water on him to fill it up.

He walked right past his mother when she walked towards him to try and explain.

"Ryoma, I—"

"Don't."

"Ryoma, just let—"

"No."

"You've got to—"

"Stop it."

"Listen to me for—"

"I don't want to hear."

Ryoma ran away from his mom into his room. He sat at his desk and pulled out his science text book from the previous year and flipped it open. It fell open on to his favorite pages; the section on light.

_The spread of colors created by the prism is called a spectrum. We have seen that the spectrum of visible light goes from red to violet. Just beyond red there is less energetic radiation, which you can't see infrared, which means "below red." You may also have heard of the _more_ energetic radiation just above violet, which is called "ultraviolet."_

He stared at the page. He was starting to feel like either ultraviolet— an invisible color in a rainbow. He was powerful, but invisible. So what was the point?

"Damn…" he laid his head in the book.

He wondered what it would be like if he hadn't told his dad to go get some flowers. He would be here. His mother wouldn't have done… _that_. Ryoma probably wouldn't be sitting there with his head on an old text book.

He heard the phone ring in the other room. It stopped when Nanako picked it up.

"Hello?"

A pause.

"Yes, just wait one moment," walked into Ryoma's room. "Ryoma, telephone."

"Hello?"

"_Echizen?_" It was Momo and he sounded out of breath. He inhaled deeply and then exhaled. It sounded like he was making this call from a telephone booth because he culd hear the rain pounding against it.

"Momo-sempai, what is it?"

"_I seriously don't have time to explain over the phone. I'm at the garden, park… thing. Will you come over here? I really don't know what to do…_" he began to mutter to himself under his breath.

"Which garden, park thing?"

"_The Mukojima Hyakka-en Garden._"

"Be right over."

Ryoma felt a twang. His father grave was close to that park. He ran down the hall. "I'm going out!" he called. It felt good to be doing something since tennis practice was over. He ran over as quickly as he could to where Momo was. Unfortunately, he had forgotten that it was still raining sheets.

----------

Momo was wearing a t-shirt and light warm-up jacket. His cut-off jeans were drenched and his hair was starting to droop, going into its natural curls. His skin looked pale and for once he did not look like he thought he was the best person in the world— in fact just then he was thinking he was the lowest, rat that crawled out of a bin and should die but never would.

_How could I do that?_ He asked himself for the billionth time. _Why did I think it was right? What should I do? I'm only fourteen. I shouldn't be dumping my problems on Echizen. He's got enough to worry about._

"Momo-sempai!" called Ryoma. He ran over, slipping slightly on the drenched grass. His hair was sticking to his face and drops of water clung to his eyelashes. "Why are you standing around in the rain? Why'd you call me here?"

Momo suddenly realized he was on the ground. His knees had buckled beneath him and now he was sitting in the mud. "I dunno. I shouldn't have. Go home."

Ryoma raised an eyebrow; he could still be cocky when it felt like his insides were being mauled by a big, creepy lion. The sky was pitch black; you could only see a tiny bit of the moon though the clouds. "Tell me what's up."

"I just needed to talk to someone…"

----------

Fuji lay on his bed and watched Yuta in the other. Shusuke felt strangely sick. He had gone over to Tezuka's house that evening and seen what a mess the usually organized family had become, with Kunimitsu in the center trying to hold everything together through his tears.

Too much was happening too fast. Echizen's father, Kunimitsu's family… The papers hadn't even gotten a hold of what happened to his mother yet, he and his grandfather were doing a very good job of not letting the news get out. It was like ultraviolet, it was there, it was happening, but no one could see it.

Kunimitsu's mother had been a French model and had been very famous but then retired. She was also his father's best friend and his godmother. Her favorite thing to say was 'I love you to bits!'

Shusuke was smart enough to know there would be a leek about it eventually.

He was drawn out of his bubble of semi-conciseness when the phone rang in the other room.

"Helloooo, house of Fuji… Oh hey Kuniharu… yeah… I'll be over right away."

Shusuke felt a twang of annoyance and of loneness. His mum was over at his aunt's house for the week, Yumiko was on a date and Yuta… well…

"Don't eat the toast…" he murmured in his sleep. "S'mine…"

Shusuke watched his sleeping brother for a bit, and then his dad came in. "Shu-shu. I'm going out for a bit. You're in charge until Yumiko gets back. Okay?"

"Okay dad."

Gerard Fuji turned to leave. "Hey dad?"

"Yes Shusuke?"

"Were you sad… you know…"

"About my God-son, best friend/ex-girlfriend and her baby dying?" he looked over at his oldest son. "Yes Shusuke, I was sad."

----------

"What are you gonna do?

"I dunno," Momo sighed, tilting his head upwards and watching the rain fall. "I'm afraid of going home but I have too…" he turned to Ryoma. "Do you want me to walk you home? It's pretty dark."

"Yeah, thanks."

----------

**Hello! It's another author's note from OFSI!**

**Readers: Hoorah!**

**I have discovered those episodes of Prince of Tennis 110-113 and watched 111. I will watch the other ones soon. Shusuke so does not look as strong as Momo… yuk… he is so wussy lookin'…**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I appreciate all of them. I always wanted to be one of those people who had 100+ reviews by ten chapters and I think you might make that wish come true! **

**I have been trying to go into more detail. I'm not always sure where the fine line is between too much detail and not enough detail. I would also like suggestions for what Momo's secret should be. Need help! Thanks!**

**Review! Help my wish come true!**

**-Old Fiat s. Italy**


	6. Chapter 6 Running Ahead

**Ultra Violet Black**

Old Fiat

**Chapter 6- Running Ahead**

Shusuke did not think the leek would happen so soon.

Kunimitsu had to face it at school from every single girl that read a movie star magazine. Ryoma got the news second hand from Nanako and Kaido got it second hand from his mother. He kept being told the same thing:

"If you need someone to keep you company when you're lonely, there's always me…"

At least that's what he got from the girls. The guys just tried to avoid him. The tennis team was worse. It was like having someone consistently whispering about you behind your back. They'd all gotten it second hand too, except some guys… (Weirdoes.)

Kunimitsu wondered if Echizen had experienced this too. It was very creepy. He also had to experience the constant sympathy. That was more annoying than the whispers because he couldn't get mad at those who offered him sympathy.

Kaido arrived at evening practice two hours late and handed a note to Tezuka.

"I offer my sympathy," he bowed and held out a small package as well. "I hope you will accept this as a sign of my condolences."

Kunimitsu's eyes widened slightly behind his glasses as he read the note. "I understand. Get warming-up."

Coach Ryuzaki took the note. Her eyes went very wide. "Oh my… Kaido, I'm very sorry."

"Please don't," said Kaido, holding up one hand as if to say, 'stop.'

"All right, go on."

Eiji skipped over to Tezuka. "Finished my laps! Whaddya want me to do now?"

"Five more laps for… bad grammar and spelling," Kunimitsu felt upside down.

Everyone knew. Every single person at his school knew and it was… strange. It had never happened to him before. Usually people couldn't see what was going on inside his head and he liked it that way. But suddenly everyone knew what had happened…

----------

Kaoru looked at the smallish scar right below his rib cage. He couldn't believe this had happened to him. Wasn't this kind of thing supposed to only happen in the kinds of soap operas his mom watched? It still hurt a bit. Oh what the hell, it hurt a lot. It felt like tiny little needles were suck into his ribs and poking his lungs every time he inhaled. He had only found out that weekend after practice…

**Flash back:**

"See you bochou," Kaido Kaoru was walking home from school, minding his own business when—

"Hey kid," there was a man standing in front of him. He reminded Kaoru a lot of a mixture between a sun flower and an ape, tall but strong. "You look quite well off. How about handing over your wallet for… heh… charity."

"Actually, I'm not as well off as you might thi—UGH!" He landed a punch on Kaido's stomach, making him double up. He then wrenched him up by the collar.

"I said, hand it over."

"Please let- go-egh," he got another punch, this time in the ribs. There was a cracking noise.

The guy fished his wallet out of Kaido's backpack. "Thanks kid." He ran off.

Kaoru felt like something was pouring into his throat and lungs. He closed his eyes. _Can't breathe… wet… lungs… hurt…_

He was eventually found by Inui after he was done doing some extra practice with Tezuka and he took him to the hospital.

He then found out when they x-rayed his lungs. It was so scary, lying in a hospital bed and listening to a doctor explain it to his mother. Yes, he was awake and in supreme pain. He felt his stomach clench (painfully) when the doctor explained to his mother.

"He's broken one of his ribs and it has punctured his left lung. But here's the thing that confuses us…

"We looked at the x-ray and see right here? You know what that is? It's from a previous puncture; it's probably from five-to-ten years ago. We think- he's had blood caught in his lungs for that long. We have to get it all out as fast as we can."

"Do all you can do," said Kaoru's mother. Her voice seemed tight. "Please save my baby."

He had woken up this evening and crawled out the window and ran off to practice, quickly forging a note from his mother which claimed it happened two months ago.

**End Flash back:**

Kaido nervously looked at the scar. Would it be there forever? Maybe he shouldn't have taken the bandages off his ribs. They like crazy now.

"Kaido," said Oishi coming over to him. "You shouldn't have gone to practice. You're injured and I think it would be best if you stayed in the hospital a bit longer."

"Really?" said Kaido. "Thank you for letting me off Oishi-sempai. I have to get back now." He headed out of the club house.

"Don't strain yourself!" Oishi called.

----------

"The blood in his lungs was what caused him to make that hissing noise. It was a wetter exhaling because of all of the fluids in there."

The doctor was talking to Kaido's mom as he crawled in though the window. He quickly put back on his PJs and lay down on the hospital bed. He was in pain from running with a broken rib. He hoped it would heal quickly.

----------

Fuji watched everyone very carefully at practice.

Momo was totally off in his game. He was pale and looked like he hadn't slept the previous night.

Oishi was tenser than ever. It was obvious why. He was probably worrying about everyone on the team.

Ryoma just seemed strange too. Shusuke knew it was really hard on him. His mother was pregnant as well as being in mourning.

Taka seemed concerned with Eiji who seemed very angry and tired. He looked like he hadn't been sleeping and his red hair wasn't flipping in its normal way.

Pretty everyone seemed to have something on their minds.

It was one depressed practice.

----------

------_One week later_------

----------

Eiji stared out his window. He glanced at the clock on his nightstand.

2:34 AM

In four hours the alarm on his clock would go off, he would turn it off, put on his school uniform and leave the house. Ignoring all around him. He had given up the thought of sleeping ages ago. That was cruel of Momo, so damn cruel he hadn't been sleeping for weeks because of it. He hadn't been acting the same to everyone he hadn't… been the same.

He had found out when his sister came home and announced that she had a new job. Everyone was happy because she had been working very hard to try and get into the best university she could get into even if it meant staying with her parents a bit longer. They didn't know then, and he doubt it would've mattered if they had.

She had been walking home from her new job when they came.

It was a gang. This gang had been attacking and mugging a lot of different people— it had only six members. Nobody could arrest them because— despite the fact that you might be able to recognize one of them at least— they hid evidence so fast if the police went to catch one of them there would be nothing to prove it. They had planned it almost impossibly-perfectly.

They attacked her, stole her wallet and her necklace and ran, but she recognized one of them. Eiji had stiffened as she described him.

_"He had spiky black hair that was kind of curly too, violet eyes and really muscular." _

Only one person could come to mind with this description.

Momoshiro Takeshi.

Eiji had to keep resisting the temptation to kill Momo at practice for doing that to his sister. It hurt. He had helped Momo on so many occasions, like the time Momo couldn't get a date for the St. Whites Day Dance and he was going to loose his bet with Kaido and Eiji got his cousin in seventh grade to go out with him. This was really mean of him. So damn mean…

_(Another OFnFR note: Ahhh! Eiji's a murderer and kaido's going to die! Don't kill him… only I can kill him… bwhahahhaaahhahahahaha!... oh yeh, don't kill kaido… just make momo mug him or something…. Yeh. Pain!)_

----------

Momo was upset, but for not the same reasons as Eiji. He knew he'd stolen from people for no reason (except maybe to relieve stress), he didn't care. He didn't know it was Eiji's sister. He just couldn't believe his father…

Momo's dad had had four wives in his life time. Momo's mother (his first wife) he had loved deeply but she had run off to America when he was little.

Momo's little brother, Ryusuke's mother had been a Chinese model who he had ditched three years after.

Ami's (his little sister) mom only stayed with them a year, then he had devoiced her.

Then there had been that Ukrainian pop singer. She had only lasted six months.

So, in short, Momo's dad had the traditional movie star life. He had a big house, about a billion wives and a few kids for the press to say, 'awww' at. Of course, he would be off shooting a movie somewhere, too busy to talk to his brand new wife and Hollywood baby.

But now he was with some one new.

He couldn't remember her name but just the thought… it hurt. Why couldn't his dad stay with one woman? He just wanted all this to stop. The world was moving too fast and running ahead of him. It was like watching life move on fast forward.

It made it seem… lonely.

----------

**Hello! Um, okay, that was chapter six and I need your help!**

**First off!**

**-**

**-1- I need to figure out how to make some of the other people in the story… more of characters with out something bad happening to them**

**-2- I need help with Eiji. I don't know how he is going to talk to Momo about this and I totally need _HELP_!**

**-**

**By the way, the reason for the _Simple Plan_ reference. That song fits so well with Ryoma and I was listening to it at the time so…**

**Review!**

**-Old Fiat s. Italy**


	7. Chap 7 California wo Reins but w a Glare

**Ultra Violet Black**

Old Fiat

**Chapter 7- California With-Out Reins but With a Glare**

_Ding-Dong…_

Shusuke took his finger off the doorbell and waited for one of the Tezukas to answer it. Kunimitsu opened the door.

This was not Kunimitsu Tezuka he remembered. The Tezuka he remembered had neatly combed hair, a closed expression (but if you tried hard enough he would crack a smile or give a laugh), cleanly pressed clothes and thin, perfectly placed, wire-rimmed glasses.

The Kunimitsu Tezuka before him wore a rumpled polo, his glasses were slightly smeared and placed in a lop-sided way. His hair stuck out in different directions as though he had been running his fingers though it. His face wore not only the smeary glasses but an expression which crossed between confused, surprised and worried.

"Fuji," he straightened his glasses. "Do you want to come in?"

"Yes I would," Shusuke tried his best to grin. Kunimitsu was still so turned around and dizzied by his mother's death that it made it extremely hard to smile.

----------

_I'm just a kid! And life is a nightmare!_

_I'm just a kid! And I know it's not fair!_

Ryoma listened to _Simple Plan_ play one of their songs on his CD player. He was lying on his checkered duvet cover and staring at the ceiling. It was eleven in the morning but he was totally ready to just crawl back under the blankets.

"Ryoma?" Rinko came in and pressed the pause button. "I have something to talk to you about."

A month had passed since Nanjiro getting hit by the truck. Things were starting to go back into order again. Ryoma had avoided his own house at all costs in fear of seeing… that again. He usually went over to Momo's house whenever he could, but Momo wasn't acting like himself. Ryoma wasn't surprised. If his dad had gone out with— and married— half a dozen women he would pretty upset to find out he was going out with another.

"Ryoma, you haven't been spending a lot of time at home and," she paused, searching for words. "We need you here. I know you need to spend time with your friends and everything, but we need you at home as well.

"Also about that man I was… well— I really like him. His name is Kenichi Momoshiro. I think you two could be great friends."

Ryoma rolled on his side away from his mother so he didn't have to look at her. Suddenly something clicked inside his head.

_Kenichi Momoshiro…_

_1.75 months ago:_

_"Have you ever heard of him?" asked Momo, slumping on the armchair in his room._

_"I think I saw one of his movies…" said Ryoma, shrugging._

_"Yeah, that bloke's my dad. And a bloody rotten one at that."_

_Present:_

"Kenichi Momoshiro!" Ryoma shouted, sitting up and turning to look at him mom. "What are you thinking? You can't go out with my friend's dad! He's a jerk! He's been married to, like, four different women in the past decade! You just can't do that!"

The silence in the room was as sharp as the noise a glow stick makes when you snap it so it'll glow properly.

"Ryoma," his mother rested her hand on her stomach. Yes, it was bigger, but only by a bit. "I don't believe you are of the age where you can tell me what I can and can't do but—"

Ryoma cut her off. "_You_ started _going out_ with him after you had only been in mourning one_ week_!"

"Ryoma!" she stood up. "I refuse to be bossed around by you. I am your mother and you shall treat me with respect!" She turned and left the room.

Ryoma's face crumpled. He remembered being in fights with his mother before that had involved shouting for much longer than this one, but this fight had some strange feeling to it. He buried his face into his pillow, his shoulders jerking from held back sobs. It felt like the world was collapsing around his ankles and there was… nothing he could do.

_Nothing you can do._

He had always been in control. Always had the feeling that he could do anything and everything and get away with it. Now he felt small and defeated. The reins had been pulled off the house and he didn't know how to ride with out them… with-out them.

_With-out you._

He had been out of control since Nanjiro had died and he never stopped to think about it. Maybe he could try and regain control again. Learn to ride the horse with out the reins. He hadn't been at home a lot and Nanako was always trying to help both her and Grandma. She must have been lonely.

_Ride the house with-out the reins._

----------

Eiji stood across the court from Momo. Hatred pounded through every one of his veins. The usually happy, bouncy acrobat had become hard and colder than ice. His eyes were outlined with dark circles, he had taken off the little sticker on his face and his smile was replaced by a tight frown. He looked pointedly at the umpire.

"G-game and match Kikumaru. 6-3."

"Damn straight," he spun around and walked off the courts with-out shaking Momo's hand.

Momo frowned. Ryoma hadn't been speaking to him that day and Eiji hadn't even glanced his way.

Ryoma watched the sun settle behind creamy clouds. The sky was bright blue, almost blinding. Almost everyone had gone to head home. Momo grabbed on to Eiji's arm.

"Eiji-sempai what was that about?" his face was hard. His violet eyes practically threw daggers at Eiji.

"What do you mean Momo?" asked Eiji. His dark blue eyes practically took out a machine gun.

Ryoma watched them glare at each other. _They've forgotten I'm here._

"Refusing to shake my hand, glaring at me for weeks on end. I just want to know what I did. WHAT DID I DO?" He gripped harder as Eiji tried to push off his hand. "Tell me Eiji-sempai! What did I _do_?"

"Let me go Momoshiro," Eiji tried to pull his arm out of Momo's tight grip. The grip tightened. "I said _let go_!"

"Tell me!"

"Maybe it's because of what you did to my _sister_!"

Momo stared blankly at him. "Wh-what?"

"Yeah! You and your stupid little friends mugging her! What the hell do you think you are _doing_? I can't allow you to do that to her with out getting mad you- you—" Eiji struggled to finish the sentence.

"Your sister…?" he let go of his arm, his hands shaking.

"Yes you—!" Eiji suddenly felt his hands clench into a fist. Then he felt himself draw his arm back and then push it forward.

**_BAM!_**

Momo fell on to the ground, completely unprepared for the punch. Eiji was surprisingly strong, considering his wiry frame. He felt something dribble down his cheek. He touched lightly his cheek, which was still delicate after the punch, and looked at his finger tips.

Eiji just stood there shaking, his arm still out stretched as though he had forgotten to pull it back. He let it drop and it swung back by his side. "What are you gonna do now Momo?" his tried to keep his voice steady. "Run home to mother?"

_Mother?_

_Do I have a mother?_

_No, I don't. My mother is in California somewhere. _

Momo tried to push himself up but fell back to the ground. His tears falling on to the court.

_Eiji knows._

_It's over._

_Give it up._

Momo suddenly just jumped up. "Heh. Funny Eiji-sempai." He left as quickly as he could. His heart beating a million times a minute. He wiped his eyes on his sleeves.

"You idiot."

He looked up to see Alfonso, the head of the gang he belonged to, with several other members.

"Alfonso-san," he bowed. "I'm quitting."

----------

**So! Momo quits! I thought that might be good. I won't update for a while because we have guests over and so I really _need_ to spend time with them after being lonely most of the summer.**

**Oops! In my last authors note I said sorry about the Simple Plan reference. I really meant to say 'About the Simple Plan reference…' Also that must've been confusing for everyone 'cause it's in this chapter not the other one. So I have to explain that.**

**I had started writing this chapter right after finishing the other one and thought, 'oh yeah I should explain that' with-out rereading the chapter to see if it's in there like I normally do.**

**Review!**

**-Old Fiat s. Italy**


	8. Chapter 8 The Chance is Gone

**Ultra Violet Black**

Old Fiat

**Chapter 8- The Chance is Gone**

Ryoma ran over to Eiji who was still just standing there shaking. He saw his sempai was biting his lower-lip, his eyebrows nearly tied together. He wasn't focusing on anything. His lip split.

"Eiji-sempai?" Ryoma touched his shoulder lightly.

"Ochibi?" he turned to him. "Tell me why I did that…"

"I-I dunno…" Ryoma really, _really_ wanted to run away from this scarier version of Eiji.

"I gotta run. I've got… stuff to do… at home," Eiji lied, lamely. He walked away, leaving Ryoma on the court, his thoughts moving a million miles a minute.

He heard the club house door open and turned around. "Buchou…" he turned away again.

"Echizen," Tezuka walked over stiffly. "What was Kikumaru yelling about? I couldn't understand a word of what he said."

"Nothing," Ryoma realized he said this by reaction from saying so many times to his mum and dad.

"Ah, yes," he raised one fine eyebrow. Ryoma suddenly noticed his eyes were bloodshot as though he hadn't been sleeping. "And how have you been?"

"Fine," It suddenly struck him how awkward Tezuka was in the art of conversation. "And you?"

"I've been—" _Horrible,_ thought Kunimitsu. _Horrible, hopeless, depressed, tired._ "—fine. I was hoping to speak to you about something."

"Shoot."

"Eh… I was wondering… if you… umm…" Damn, this was more difficult than he had thought it would be. "…If you knew of a good psychiatrist."

"Why would I?" He felt this was a strange question to ask. He'd never been to a psychiatrist.

"Never mind," He pulled off his glasses and began to polish them on his shirt.

There was silence for a while.

"Well, I think I'll be heading home—" Ryoma turned to go but Tezuka grabbed on to his arm.

"Can I talk to you?"

This idea was so much weirder than the thought of him needing a psychiatrist. He had thought the captain kind of hated him.

"Not right now."

The words slipped out of Ryoma's mouth and he walked off. More like ran off. Maybe he was trying to think up excuses inside his head, he couldn't remember. All he knew was that he turned around to shout back at Tezuka, but saw the captain was no longer there.

----------

Only thought:

_Ow._

It was a pretty accurate thought as almost every bit of him was in pain. Momo stared at the clear blue sky. There was no desire to get up. The blood from his broken nose was flowing into his mouth so he sat it out, he was also bleeding from the lip so he was spiting practically every second. Let's go over the injury list:

1 black eye (left)

2 bloody lip

3 broken nose

4 various cuts and bruises on his arms and stomach

5 various cuts and bruises on his legs

'Ow' was the best word to describe his condition.

He got up and felt a sharp pain in his forehead. He put his hand to it and felt a thick, congealed substance. Blood. Another injury for the list.

6 large-ish cut on forehead

Momo made a large mental note to himself and pasted it on the front of his brain:

_Never do that again._

Alfonso was not the best person to get in a fight with— neither was Momo— but Alfonso also had five or six guys backing him up. Ow…

----------

Tezuka stopped running. He put one hand on his knee and the other on his chest. He was so out of breath. His heart beat was incredibly rapid, but he felt better despite the fact that he couldn't breath. Just not being trapped in a house that had the same mood of an insane asylum made him feel so much better. He felt his mouth crack into a smile. Then felt a large stab of guilt.

_You shouldn't be smiling._

_You never smiled, not even when she was alive._

He was in front of Oishi's house. He almost never went to Oishi's house by himself because it was rather close to the bad side of town and Tezuka… had bad experiences in the bad side of town. He rang the doorbell.

"Tezuka-kun," Oishi's father had answered the door. His short black hair was neatly combed and his emerald-green eyes had shock written all over them. "I haven't seen you in a while, how's everything been going?"

"Fine, Mr. Oishi," he bowed. "May I please see Shuichiro?"

"Of course, come on in," he stood aside and closed the door once Tezuka walked in. "You just go ahead to his room." He smiled.

"Thank you."

He was walking to Oishi's room when a small girl ran past, nearly tripping him.

"Chichi! Chichi! Shui-chan is gonna kill me!"

"Of course I'm gonna kill you!" Oishi burst out of his room wearing a t-shirt and jeans. "Don't you dare look in my journal!"

"Hey, hey. Calm down you two," Oishi's dad put his arm around her. "What's going on?"

"She was reading my journal! Then she started ripping out pages!"

"It was boring!" she protested. "You don't need boring stuff in your room."

"Sweetie," Mr. Oishi looked at her. "That wasn't nice; now apologize to your older brother."

"Sorry," she pouted.

"It's okay," Oishi suddenly noticed Tezuka's presence. "Hey Kunimitsu, do you want to go to my room?"

"Sure."

----------

Ryoma arrived at the cemetery. He looked around at the field of tombstones and headed over to his father's.

It was made out of dark stone with the words carved into it:

_Nanjiro Ryoga Echizen_

_Beloved son, husband, father and tennis star._

_He remains in our hearts forever._

He ran his finger along the words. Had he ever really thought of him as a father? He was more of an opponent. Someone he had to beat. But as a father? No, he wasn't a father. He didn't have a father. It was like after he got home after that day, exactly as he had said it then—

"_It's okay to cry sweetie. I know you loved your father very much…"_

"_No, I never really liked that guy."_

It was always that way. His father wasn't his father; he was just 'that guy'.

Ryoma began to cry. His chance to ever have that relationship with his father was gone. It was over. There was nothing he could do.

_Beloved son, husband, father and tennis star._

To Ryoma, it was only tennis star. And cross out the 'beloved'.

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**Hello! Sorry about not updating for such a loooong amount of time! The guests and everything, also I had writer's block once they left soooo… yeah…**

**I hope you liked this chapter! Remember I always want your suggestions! That's what caused me to get such a big case of writer's block because I didn't have any ideas!**

**Oh, if you want to see something funny, look at my review page. **

**Ore-Sama No Like, God, I laughed so hard at that review. Correcting my grammar? Come _on_! Also they didn't even notice Tezuka was _supposed_ to be OOCish! In defense for the bad grammar/spelling: When I run my spell check, I'm so sick of it catching all the Japanese names but not the mistakes like mixing up 'load' and 'loud', I'm clicking 'IGNORE' over and over and forget there are some actual spelling mistakes on there!**

**Also, by the way, 'Chichi' means 'Papa' or something to that affect. 'Haha' means 'Mama'. **

**REVIEW! WITH SEGGESTIONS!**

**-Old Fiat s. Italy**


	9. Chapter 9 The Funny Farm

**Ultra Violet Black**

Old Fiat

**Chapter 9- The Funny Farm (In both senses of the words)**

Atobe lazily fanned himself. Damn Japanese summers. It was so hot and sticky, even in the well air-conditioned _castle_. Though, a castle didn't stick out much in 'The Funny Farm'.

'The Funny Farm' was the gated neighborhood. It was really called 'Oakwood housing area', but someone put up a sign beneath that that had 'The Funny Farm' written on it and the name caught on.

So there he sat in his ridiculously large room, all decorated with purple velvet and such, fanning himself and wishing he had a television in the purple… (I suppose you _could_ call it a room). Then he could watch a movie or something. Not just lay around thinking about how hot it was, even though it was, he would rather not _think_ about it if you please. He wished, also, that Kabaji was there to fan him. But Kabaji had gone vacation with his family (treacherous fiend) and wouldn't be back for another week, so Atobe was left here to mope.

There was a knock at the door. "Enter," he said, lazily.

One of the maids walked in, "Master Keigo the 2nd, Miss Elizabeth and Mr. Keigo the 1st would like to see you in Mr. Keigo the 1st's study."

"Really," he grinned. His father's study had better air-conditioning than the rest of the house. He walked slowly down, try to cover his (stupid) excitement. "Oto-san, Oka-san," he politely bowed to each. "Why did you call me here?"

"We've gotten an invite to Fuji's for their youngest son's birthday party," he held out the invitation. "Do you want to go? Your mother and I are both too busy."

Keigo paused reading over the invitation.

"Hurry up, damn it! You're wasting my time as we speak!"

Atobe scanned to pros and cons quickly in his mind;

_Pro:_ The Fuji's come from German descent so there is a large chance there would be beer at the party.

_Con:_ Putting up with Gerard Fuji for a whole evening.

_Pro:_ A drunken Gerard might be interesting.

_Con:_ Buying Shusuke's little brother (Yuta, was it?) a present.

_Pro:_ Get blackmail on Fuji Shusuke.

_Con:_ Some of 'Yuta' Fuji's friends might be there.

_Pro:_ (Tezukas and Fujis are friends…)… TEZU-CHAN WILL BE THERE!

"I'll go!" he slapped it (the invitation) down on his father's desk and _skipped_ out of the room.

----------

_At that same moment also in The Funny Farm…_

Eiji wondered around. He'd gone to Momo's house once before. The number was 43, he remembered that. He also remembered that it was very large. But when walking around all these other large houses it was like that one time his sister had asked him to grab her a pair of underwear from her room for jogging. They all looked to same. So confusing…

He walked up to a house with the numbers 27 on the gate and rang the buzzer.

"The Sakaki house. Who are you?"

Sakaki… the name sounded familiar, but Eiji was too scared to think about it. "Um… Kikumaru Eiji…?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I was wondering if you could tell me where the Momoshiro house is…"

He saw the doors beyond the gate open up a man in a nice suit walked over to the gate; He had wavy, blonde hair and sharp brown eyes.

_Oh my God…_ It was the Hyotei coach. He and Eiji had not gotten off to the best start, especially because the first time they saw each other (when he was in 8th grade) Eiji had accidentally gotten chocolate ice-cream on his fine, white linen suit.

"Sakaki-san," he bowed. "Could you please—"

"The Momoshiro house is nine houses down- now _go away_," he hissed the last two words in such a way that sent Eiji scurrying away.

"Yes!"

He reached the Momoshiro house (finally) rang the buzzer and got let into the Momoshiro 'headquarters' as Takeshi himself called it.

"Can I see Momo?" he asked the butler.

"'Momo'?" he sniffed. "Don't you mean Young Master Takeshi?"

"Um… yeah."

"I will go see if he is available. Please go sit down in the parlor," Eiji heard him mutter as he walked up the staircase. "Impertinent brat."

He walked away.

Eiji sat down on one of the cushy armchairs. In was so much nicer in here than it was in his house. Eiji's father thought air-condition would be too expensive so it wasn't 'do or do without' at their house. It was just 'do without damn it'.

Momo walked in the parlor, a slightly confused expression on his face. Then he saw Eiji.

"Kikumaru-sempai," he bowed.

"Hey Momo," Eiji stood up. "I came to apologize for— HOLY KAPISH! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE?"

Momo turned slightly pink. Was it that bad? "Nothing. I tripped."

"Yeah right, I didn't believe that with Echizen and I won't believe it with you."

"Well maybe I won't tell you what happened. What did you come here for?"

"I came to apologize for hitting you. Did it do that much damage?"

"I accept your apology, but I wouldn't count on you doing all this," he gave a strained smile.

"See you later Momo," Eiji got up. "Bye-bye."

"Is… that all you came for?"

Eiji raised an eyebrow and gave a giggle. "Why Momo! You gay!"

"I'm not gay!" Momo protested. "It's just usually every time you come to my house it's to use my video games or something."

"Well, maybe…"

----------

Kaido lay in the hospital bed. His breathing was strained but his insides were leaping with joy. His rib was starting to heal. Maybe soon they would let him walk around the hospital a bit. But he felt he was wasting the whole summer away in bed. He had had so many things planned, bread making, tennis and such. And all he could do was lay around in bed.

What confused him the most was the lack of visitors he had. Inui came twice and his little brother came almost every day, his father went when ever he could and his mother and baby sister always came with him. In was boring in the hospital. Boring, boring, boring.

Suddenly he heard a scratching.

The scratching continued until finally he looked towards the window.

There was a face by the window.

Its eyes were like little drops of blood, its skin looked bleached and there was a pretty pattern of scars on its face, pulling the skin in strange directions. Its mouth was twisted into a smile so you could see every one of its small, sharp teeth.

He blinked and it was gone.

Kaido put a hand to his heart and found his heart beat was wild.

He blinked again and it was leaning over him, opening its mouth enough to swallow him whole…

----------

"Doctor! You have to come. It's the patient in room 133."

The doctor stood up. "What is it?"

"He's having a seizure or something. He's screaming, and kicking and his heart beat is insane!"

"I'll be right there."

----------

**Tee hee! Kaido has gone crazy! **

**Well, that bit was kind of based on an awesome (old) fanfic I read check it out here:**

**Trust me, it's wicked.**

**Where were the suggestions in my reviews? All I got was 'update soons'! Even though I love those and everything I love suggestions… (:**

**Review!**

**-Old Fiat s. Italy**


	10. Chapter 10 Break Down and Twist Spin

**Ultra Violet Black**

Old Fiat

----------

**Chapter 10- Break Down and Twist Spin**

"Kaido?"

"Kaido-kun?"

"Kaoru-chan?"

His eyelids flickered open and everything around him slid in and out of foucus. _I'm in the hospital..._ he thought. _Hazue, mama and papa are standing near by... and there is Doctor Kin. Where did _it_ go...?_

"Kaoru! You're awake!" his mother hugged him lightly so as not to hurt his ribs. "We were so afraid- oh Kaoru! You're such a scare!"

"Oh mama!" he grabbed on to her shirt and pulled her closer. "Mama... it was so scary..." He told her about the monster that had been in there.

She looked at the doctor.

"Kaido-kun," he said setting a hand on his head. "This will be frightening but... we're afraid that you had some blood caught in your brain. It's quite a serious situation you're in. We've gotten out as much as we can but we're afraid there's a small amount we can't get to. You might be prone to break downs like this and... 'images' like that 'monster."

Kaido looked at the doctor. 'Break downs'? He was sure the thing had been there. He had felt it's hot breath on his skin. Why didn't the doctor understand it had been there?

"We want you to take this medicine. It will help stop this kind of thing."

Kaido looked suspiciously at the small bottle in his hand. Fine, he'd take that stupid medicine, it would come back though... he knew...

----------

_**Bizz-bizz-bizz-**_

Tezuka opened his eyes. His alarm clock continuing the buzz. He turned it off and sat up on the side of his bed. He picked up his glasses and slipped them on and got out of bed. The pale morning light fell across the room as he began to get dressed. He sighed as he looked at the photograph on the wall. It was of them all, his father, mother, grandfather and Kyusuke. Tezuka had his arm around Kyusuke. That was just before they had found out about Kyusuke's cancer. Nothing could've gone wrong when they all smiled at his cousin and their camera.

But now everything was wrong. Everything was wonky and messed-up. Why was he still all sad about this anyway? Echizen had gotten over everything in a few weeks, it had been two months and he still hadn't gotten over it.

Once dressed he headed downstairs. His slippers made strange noises on the floor. _zip-zop-zip-zop_, much like the noise snow pants made. He went into the kitchen- completely unprepared for what was in there.

Kuniharu was standing in the kitchen, prosthetic leg in place, his eyes were wide and crazed. Tears ran freely down his face. On the floor was every dish, glass or mug in the house- all of them were broken.

Kunimitsu stepped cautiously around the the broken glass. "Oto-sama? Oto-sama what did you do?" he looked at his father.

"I hate those dishes," he shut his eyes and let out a slight choking noise.

Kunmitsu put his arm around him. "Oto-sama-"

"You know, I hate it when you call me that," he sucked in air in a slightly annoyed fashion. "Can't you call me dad? Or papa?"

He sighed. "Okay dad... things are going to be different now. You know that, I know that. Do you not like the pychiatrist? They are nice to you aren't they?"

"They're too nice..."

----------

Shusuke shook Yuta's shoulder.

"Ouch," he opened his eyes. "What is it?"

"Happy Birthday!" screamed Fuji, smiling in an actually happy way.

"Huh?"

"It's your birthday, silly goose!"

"Oh yeah!" They began a small pillow fight until Yuta fell backwards on to his bed, he squeezed his shoulder slightly. It hurt, a lot.

"Yuta...?" Shusuke came over. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, aniki," he got up and began to get dressed. Shusuke's eyebrows knit. Yuta was hiding something again. He was very secretive in his ways. It was hard to be secretive under the spot-lights but he managed fine. Shusuke did not have the same trait as his mother and younger brother, more like his father and older sister in the ways that his secrets always seemed to reach the public. He could hide them from his friends but tabloids always seemed to find out.

He got dressed as well and they raced down the stairs together. Fuji won, as always. Yuta smiled however. A Fuji traight.

Yuta's party was an afternoon affair and his friends were going to stay the night after everyone else left.

"How is the birthday boy?"

They turned around. Yuta wasn't sure why Shusuke turned as well, maybe he only heard the word 'boy'. But whatever.

Their Grandmother was standing by the couch grinning broadly. She had several packages under her arm. Their Grandfather was sitting on the couch and talking to Gerard.

"Hi Grandma!" Yuta hugged her then turned to his grandfather. "Granddad!" He and his grandfather did one of those 'guy hugs' where you continually slap the other person the back.

"Oh Yuta baby!" his grandmother gushed. "You've grown so much! Here are your presents!" She handed him the packages.

"Thanks," he set them on the coffee table. "I'll open them in a bit."

----------

_Later at Yuta's party..._

Shusuke sat on the couch with Tezuka.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Tezuka wiping his glasses on his shirt.

"Well, I think something is wrong with Yuta... he seems kind of... weird... See the way he keeps touching his shoulder?"

"Fuji... you know... Twist-Spin Shot..."

Shusuke turned to look at him. His blue eyes were wide with fear. "Do you think--?"

Tezuka nodded solemly. He put his glasses back on.

He slumped on the leather plushness. He wondered what Yuta would do if he really did blow out his shoulder. He knew he would take it badly; his younger brother was secretive, but very emotional as well.

Tezuka turned around and looked over the backboard. _Damn! What is he doing here?_ He slumped down quickly next to Shusuke. "Atobe is here!" he hissed.

"So?"

"_So_ I hate him!"

"Oh yeah! You can go hide in my room."

"Thanks," he got up and made to go over to the staircase but--

"TEZU-CHAN!"

He stiffened. He knew that voice. Who didn't know that voice? Ore-sama did scream a lot.

He turned around. "Atobe," he bowed, _very slightly_. "What are you doing here?"

"To celebrate Yuta-kun's coming out!"

"What?"

"Oh wait," he looked at his wrist. "Birthday. No wonder he looked at me funny. Come on Tezu-chan. Don't you want a wonderful evening with Ore-sama?"

"Not really--"

He began to chatter. After a while of not paying attention a word caught in Tezuka's mind.

"So, how is Kuniharu-san?"

Tezuka looked at him, he saw a malicious gleam in Atobe's eyes.

"He's fine."

"Really? I heard him talking to Gerard, he said he'd had some kind of break down. That doesn't seem very fine to me..."

"He's _fine_."

"Psh. Why'd he have a break down?"

Tezuka looked at him. He'd obviously given Atobe too much credit. He'd thought he was asking about Kuniharu to tantalise him about his mother. But maybe he just didn't know...

"Never mind."

"Whatev. Where's... God, what's his name... Kyu...Ku... Your younger brother! Where's he?"

_Crap,_ thought Tezuka as he felt that lump rise in his throat. "I have- to use the bathroom." he walked away quickly.

"Hm. Must have diarrhea."

Fuji, who had heard the conversation, ran over. "You idiot, Atobe. Don't you know _anything_?"

"Ore-sama knows all."

"Obviously not."

He explained quietly. "Oh Damn," said 'Ore-sama' once he had finished. "I didn't know..."

----------

"Hey Yuta," said Hajime. It was after the party, most everyone had gone home. The teenage boys were sitting around in the carpeted basement. "How's about we all go outside and play some tennis?"

"Okay," they all got their tennis stuff and went outside.

Shusuke watched from the window as Yuta tossed up his serve. He hoped Yuta would beat Hajime.

He pushed open his window so he could see better. "Game-Hajime!" called Atsushi.

Hajime served and Yuta returned it- to Shusuke's horror- with a Twist-Spin Shot.

**_CRACKKK!_**

"Ahh-!" Yuta fell to the ground, clutching his shoulder.

Shusuke turned from the window, down the steps and out the door- "YUTA-!"

----------

**Oh dear, I'm toturing Yuta again... tsk tsk. Well, it will intwine with the rest of the not real plot. Yes, the plot does not exsist! YET! Don't leave ! I'm figuring it out as I go!**

**SEGGESTIONS! I got a ton of great ones with the last chapter (most of which will be included). I need to bring out characters in a better way. So help me with that!**

**REVIEW!**

**-Old Fiat s. Italy**


	11. Chapter 11 Breaking the Friendship

**Ultra Violet Black**

Old Fiat

----------

**Chapter 11- Breaking the Friendship**

There were dark moods at practice the next day. It wasn't like Fuji had _told_ anyone about Yuta's. It wasn't even that anyone had found out. Everyone was just depressed, jealous or trying to lighten the mood. Actually there were only two people doing the latter.

**_Echizen, Ryoma: _**Ryoma was depressed. His mom was still going out with Kenichi Momoshiro and now he had to meet him and his 'eldest son' (obviously Momo) at dinner that evening in some fancy-shmancy restaurant.

**_Momoshiro, Takeshi: _**Momo was depressed as well. His (kind of) best friend was still not speaking to him and he still didn't know quite _why_. Also he had to meet his dad new girlfriend and her son in some dumb restaurant.

**_Fuji, Shusuke: _**Fuji was depressed because of Yuta's injury. His little brother was currently in the hospital.

**_Tezuka, Kunimitsu:_** Tezuka was depressed because he was trying so hard to keep everything together while everything was falling apart.

**_Oishi, Shuichiro:_** Was jealous because of how Tezuka wasn't spending time with him anymore and seemed to only be hanging out with Fuji.

Taka and Eiji were trying to lighten the mood. Inui was just... lurking.

"Heh," Eiji said, trying to lift the dark clouds around the tennis courts, but instead just made everyone annoyed and slightly angry. "Hey, Tezuka-san, your glasses all smeary! Hee heh... heh..." He hung his head. His cheeks pink. Why was everyone being so strange? Why did he feel so strange? He had apologized to Momo and Momo had forgiven him. So why was everyone so... down?

He looked at Taka with a 'Help-Me' expression plastered all over his face.

Taka didn't trust himself to do anything.

----------

Ryoma sat uncomfortably in the actually quite comfortable chair. The white table-cloth just barely skimmed against his knees. His eyes nearly welled up with tears. But he couldn't cry now. He had to help his mother who was sitting there, her face slightly pale. Mr. Momoshiro was now nearly, he glanced at his watch, fifteen minutes late.

Rinko clenched her fist in her lap and bit her lip. She was dressed up in her brand-new yellow, sleeveless dress. She had put on her make up so carefully, done her hair very neatly and all for what?

_He's probably going to stand her up,_ thought Ryoma, glancing at his watch again. _I wish I wasn't here. She'll probably cry when he never comes and they're turning the chairs upside down._

She looked at Ryoma. "Thank you for dressing up sweetie." She rested a hand on her stomach, which was really starting to show.

"Mom, I--" he suddenly realized something. Rinko was too trusting. She trusted Nanjiro enough to think that whenever he looked at one of those dirty magazines; whenever (if ever) he went to a creepy club or party; he would always come back to her. Always be there for her. She trusted Momo's dad enough to think that her would love her forever.

_He's not going to come. Then mom's going to start crying..._

They sat for several minutes in silence, then the door to the restaurant opened and two men walked in.

Momo's father was tall; his dark hair had a few streaks of gray in it. He was wearing a black suit over coat and crisp white pants. His black shoes were polished to a shine. He smiled at a Ryoma as he walked over.

Momo was wearing a dark purple suit coat and a pair of dark jeans. Under the coat he wore a stripy, violet button-up shirt. He wore a scowl on his face which seemed to recall something of Kaido. His eyes were covered up with large, dark sunglasses.

"Rinko," Mr. Momoshiro kissed her lightly on the cheek. Ryoma tensed. "I'm sorry we're late. It's lovely to see you." He turned to Momo and said shapely, "Takeshi, please take off your sunglasses. This is my son, Takeshi."

Momo sat down, took off the sunglasses and tucked them into his coat.

"Hello Takeshi," she held out her hand. Momo barely gave it a glance.

"Takeshi," Mr. Momoshiro hissed dangerously. "_Behave_."

Momo bit his lip but still didn't touch her hand.

Rinko blinked, eyes wide, but recovered herself. "It's fine. This is my son, Ryoma."

Ryoma watched as Momo mouth moved ever so slightly, mouthing the words _'My son, Ryoma.'_ He looked up at him. His eyes seemed to be slightly apologizing, but Ryoma wasn't forgiving. This was the end. No more. There was a fine line between being able to forgive, and not being able to. Momo hadn't crossed that line, his father had. And he just couldn't give, or Momo, pardon for doing that.

Ryoma glared at Momo. He was trying to get the message across the table, _'Breaking the Friendship! It's over.'_

Momo stood up. "I'll be right back. Mrs. Echizen, Dad, Echizen." He gave each of them a brief nod. He felt with each step his feet sink into the push, red carpet. The creamy-yellow walls, red trim, white table cloths; everything blurred as he walked quickly towards the restrooms. Sounds slurred and he felt his pace quicken as he felt someone following him.

He went into the bathroom and locked himself in the stall and leaned against the door. There was a light knock. "There's someone in here." he choked. He wasn't going to cry. He hadn't cried in years... well... actually it was only a month ago. But before that he hadn't cryed in years.

"Takeshi?" It was his father, now he was going to try and make peace. But there was no way he could absolve him of this. His best friend's mom… "Takeshi, please come out."

"Go away."

"Come out Takeshi, you must know I'm doing this for you."

"How? How is ruining my life going to do anything for me other than make me hate you? Which I did before!"

"I loved your mother very much, all I'm trying to do is find someone who can take care of you when I'm somewhere else," he jiggled the handle. "Just let me talk to you."

"Go away."

He heard his father sigh and leave the bathroom. Momo stared at the tiled walls.

Echizen Ryoma. He had been his first real friend. Someone he trusted to come over to his house. Someone he trusted enough to think that he wasn't just being his friend for money. Someone he thought would be his friend. "Damn him... Ruining it all..."

But of course, he'd always been by himself this no different.

On his first day of grade school he had tried make it so no one could touch him. By then he was already sick of forced smiles and money-made friendships. He also had a bodyguard, which is basically like having a neon sign above your head that says 'Freak Here'. He didn't want to talk to anyone and in return they didn't want to talk to him, quite simple.

When his mother left he was more anti-social then ever. That's when he had put on the cover-up, but it had been washed away within a year. But he always reapplied it. He said he'd learned cover up will come off with water, but he hadn't learned a thing.

Then he had gotten into Seigaku and decided something. His father was mainly popular in the USA. No one need know about his rich family if he didn't tell them.

He had gotten closer to Masa, but something had never really locked. But there was always Viper. Kaido had always known. He'd gone to the same grade school as Momo and at first had tried to be his friend. But Momo had not let him in. There was always a weapon Kaido had that Momo lacked; He knew everything Momoshiro didn't want anyone else to know.

Some how he'd gotten tangled up in Alfonso's gang at this time. He didn't know how it happened; he knew he didn't like doing it but he was afraid to stand up to him.

Then Ryoma had transferred. He was so strange. Coming from the US, Momo knew there was a small chance he might be faking their friendship until he found out who his father was, infamous pervert; Nanjiro Echizen.

Momo shut his eyes. The world was going to fast again.

He came back to the table a few minutes later. Putting back on the cover up. Every smile reached his eyes; every laugh was perfect; but there was one thing off, his hands. They were not doing all the usual motions he did. Waving, miming, and sometimes there were even motions for searching for a word; But he wasn't doing any of them. His hands remained still.

Ryoma watched Momo charm his mother into thinking he was the most innocent thing in the world. His mother fell for the whole charade. But Momo acting wasn't a surprise, he understood that Momo lied fluently. What was really surprising was Momo's father.

He seemed to be genuinely in love with his mother. He listened to her every word and whenever Ryoma spoke he looked him in the eye and took his opinion seriously. He had a feeling Mr. Momoshiro was actually a kind person. What was strange was—

Was—

_Momo was more of a jerk than his father._

----------

Yuta gazed at the ceiling. He hadn't moved, spoken or thought anything since the— visit.

_"Yuta,"_ Hajime had smiled his most charming smile, or tried to anyway. It made Yuta's stomach do a back flip. _"You want what's best for St. Rudolph, don't you?"_

He tried his best to smile back. _"I know, Mizuki-san. I'll give up my regulars spot and start to train with my right hand."_

Mizuki sighed. _"Yuta, you don't want to drag our team down do you? I mean- starting at the beginning… ugh. Actually, I think it would be best for all of us if you just quit the team."_

He examined the stucco pattern. No want— correction, no NEED, to move anymore. He would just let himself rot inside for the rest of his life.

"Mr. Fuji, your son is right here," he heard the doctor say. "Not too long, he needs his rest."

"Yuta?" Mr. Fuji walked over by his son's bedside. He ran his fingers through the boy's short light brown hair. "Yuta?"

"Dad?" his voice felt slightly rough from not speaking for quite some time. At least a few hours.

"Yes?"

"Can I learn tennis with my right hand?"

----------

**I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm soooooooo sorry! Schoolwork has sucked out my (no) life!**

**It's my first time going to "real school". I used to be home schooled and now I'm online. I don't have time to do anything… **

**Oh, by the way, I recently watched the St. Rudolph (anime) episodes and noticed they make it so Yuta FINDS OUT what Hajime is doing to him! How lame is that? In the manga they don't tell him AT ALL. So this is done with the MANGA version.**

**Also, because of school, this fanfic will not be updated as frequently, but will have longer chapters (hopefully) instead.**

**REVIEW!**

**-Old Fiat s. Italy**


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